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Redington Beach dock ordinance taking shape
By BOB MACPHERSON
| Article published on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008 |
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REDINGTON BEACH – The issue that’s driving the creation of a new ordinance is to provide guidelines for the location of a boat dock that would not obstruct a neighbor’s view or otherwise interfere with a neighbor’s property.
But, coming up with rules that would apply evenly to all dock owners in the town would be virtually impossible, the commission concluded.
Problems include: narrow “inverse lots” where the placement of a dock can be difficult; a determination of the best place along the property line to place a dock without overreaching lot set back dimensions; the varying depth of the water and the contours of the underwater lands in the dock area that could limit the size or draft of a vessel; repositioning of a boat to a parallel berthing or on the other side of the dock because of high wind conditions and the repairs or reconstruction of grandfathered docks.
Rob Epstein, chairman of the town’s planning board; Bud Fahs, spokesman for the Board of Adjustment and two other board of adjustment members – Ken Sulewski and David Will – all said the rules have to be flexible and because of the wide diversity of waterfront lots, they will probably result in the town awarding many exceptions to the rules.
“Basically we agreed that there are so many variables that each case has to be treated individually,” Fahs said.
Not everyone was happy with the results of the workshop.
Bill Ardiff, a private citizen, said, “If we make up this set of rules it will come back to bite us and bite us hard.”
Commissioner Fred Steiermann argued that the town was wasting its time.
“We over-fixed it and caused other problems,” he said.
Commissioner Leslie Peck Epstein said that the commission’s effort is “an opportunity to say what this community should look like.”
Epstein said the town should designate someone to keep oversight of the town’s dock environment.
Commissioner Deborah Bradbeer said the draft ordinance’s provisions to allow neighbors to share a dock or to have their docks abut one another could sour when one of the neighbors moves out and another moves in and may not be enthralled with what was previously agreed to.
“I want to bring up something that nobody has mentioned. The bottoms are uneven and need flexibility to put boats in areas of deepest water,” said former vice mayor and boater Paul Warren.
Sulewski pointed out the need to accommodate high windy conditions. “We need the flexibility to place boats parallel or vertical to the dock,” he said.
Wills said, “grandfathered docks destroyed by a future storm or other hazard should be allowed to be rebuilt without a new permit.”
Commissioner Mark Deighton differed with Wills.
“If anything is replaced on a dock except deck boards, the permit process should be followed,” Deighton said.
Town Attorney Andrew Salzman said that if a dock built without a permit is destroyed in a storm, the dock owner would not be allowed to rebuild without going through a new permit process.
With some changes to be made by Salzman, the commission expects to have a flexible dock ordinance up for its first pre-adoption reading in February.
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Article published on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008
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